Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing FATCA and FBARS. FATCA has sort of come to the forefront especially in the Zeitgeist of the expat Community here in Thailand, as we have now seen the banks here sending out documentation in line with their efforts to be in line with the Common Reporting Standards so-called, of the OECD, they are now sending all this documentation out to expats here in Thailand saying they have to disclose all this information, send this form back with regard to their bank account.

As I have discussed in other videos, yeah FATCA applies to Americans, I don't know why they're talking about this stuff in the context of other foreigners. Meanwhile, where's the law? What gives them any right to make this mandatory? I have not seen it so in my opinion, I think it's something to just completely disregard, at the end of the day; as of now, that's my analysis. 

Now that being said, we are talking about this in the context though of Americans and yeah, I have to deal with FATCA; I have dealt with it in the past when setting up bank accounts. Basically, FATCA was created under the Obama Administration in order to require foreign banks to disclose the banking information of Americans banking with them. The penalties for not doing that, as we saw in the UBS situation, are various and sundry and it's not something that most banks want to mess with, so they just comply with it as it pertains to Americans. Again, why exactly the banks in Thailand are doing this, are dealing with these FATCA forms for Thais is beyond me, and why we are allowing Thai Banking information to be disclosed to outside banking interests from outside of Thailand, I have a real problem with that as a Thai. But leaving that aside, what are we talking about with regard to FATCA and FBARS? Because Americans have to deal with this regardless. 

FBAR is another matter. This was around long before FATCA was even created, and under FBAR, yeah you have got to disclose to FinCEN, under the Treasury, your foreign bank account information if you have a bank account or bank accounts that have an aggregate of $10,000 or more on deposit in them, which is effectively everybody, because when they set that rule it was like anybody that had 10 grand in a bank account in the '70's was like Pablo Escobar. Now thanks to inflation, 10 grand in a bank account could be had by virtually anybody. It is really not a high number. Quite frankly, they should have put a cost-of-living adjustment, or some kind of inflation adjustment associated with that number, but they didn’t, and they probably did that on purpose because they are technocratic nanny minders who want a totalitarian state, and they want us to disclose all the information to them. I don't know why! Just because ‘totalitarian technocrats going to totalitarian technocrat’. This is what these people do. 

Now that being said, Americans here in Thailand, if you do have these bank accounts and it meets these requirements, you are going to have to deal with FBARS. It's going to effectively be part of your tax return on a yearly basis. As I have discussed in other videos, we do assist folks in providing information and advisory services regarding taxes especially in an American context. I'm an American Tax Attorney; I'm licensed in the US Tax Court; I advise clients all the time regarding matters pertaining to US Tax Law, US Tax compliance. I'm also a naturalized Thai citizen. I've been dealing with matters here in Thailand pertaining to Business and Tax law for years and unlike many of these other quite frankly ne’er-do-wells wandering around the ether of Thailand in the foreign tax and foreign legal sphere, the mist of all of that, there are a bunch of just quite honestly criminals because it's a restricted occupation in Thailand to be providing tax consultancy. It is Thai Law, and that is reserved to Thais only when it comes to advising and consulting. 

Now that being said and setting all of that aside, yes Americans do have more onerous burdens than other nationalities regarding paperwork that needs to be done with regard to their foreign banking interest. As already discussed, the FBAR is one of them and filing with FinCEN. As things move forward, I expect this will probably only become more complex although there is some hope that maybe Donald Trump coming in and a new Administration, may do some things to streamline this stuff. It remains to be seen, I'm not going to hold my breath, and we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.